A Cyber Crime Tribunal in Dhaka on Wednesday took cognisance of charges against human rights organisation Odhikar secretary Adilur Rahman Khan and its director AKM Nasiruddin Elan.
The tribunal judge, AKM Shamsul Alam, also issued a warrant for the arrest of Nasiruddin Elan as the police showed him fugitive in the case.The tribunal asked the Gulshan police station officer-in-charge to report it about the execution of the arrest order by September 19.
The tribunal also posted for September 19 the hearing in the framing of charges and asked the prison authority to produce Adilur before it on the day.
The case was transferred to the tribunal for trial on September 5, a day after the Detective Branch inspector Ashraful Islam submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s Court after investigation into a general diary filed with Gulshan police station on August 10.
In the charge sheet, the investigator pressed charges against Adilur and Elan for publishing ‘false report and doctored photos on the death toll in the law enforcers’ action on the Hefajat-e-Islam men in the capital on May 5 and early May 6.
The investigation officer pressed the charges under Section 57(1) of the Information and Communication Technology Act 2006 and Section 505(c) of the Penal Code.
The charges are punishable with imprisonment 10 years or fine of Tk 1 crore under the ICT act and with imprisonment for seven years under the Penal Code.
Odikhar in one of its recent reports claimed that 61 people were killed in the police drive against Hefajat men on May 5 and early May 6.
On August 10, a Detective Branch team picked up Adilur while he was entering his Gulshan house in the night.
-With New Age input
